Friday, January 18, 2008

Well I got the o.k. form the wife, so the Canadian Invasion looks like it will take place for this event as there will be a bunch of us from the Toronto area making the trip down to Al Horne's new track. I have heard good things about it. You can get more info here: www.rcracingextreme.com

I guess I better unpack from CRCRC's race and go over my stuff...haha.

Well, I have been getting a lot of e-mails asking about part numbers for some of the upgrades, so I though I'd list some for quick reference (the threads out there are huge and it takes a while to search them). Anyone remember Kyosho's "OPTION HOUSE" branding? I thought that was the coolest name and they really should bring it back!

IFW165 - Use for all the links in an RB5 or just the camber links on the Lazer SP.

Monday, January 14, 2008

This is what happens when you set your charger to trickle charge on a Li-Po pack. THIS WAS USER ERROR, not the packs fault.

My Lazer SP ready to go for the main

The RB5 ready to salvage some pride in the D Main

Steve hard at work tweaking the BJ4WE

Someone wanted a pic of Robbers cars

Me and Hotel rooms don't mix very well.

My nice organized pit area.....

What we like to refer to as "Mike's Landfill" of a pit space

Mr. Sweep. Ryan Cavaleri's cars. Funny, he didn't look that fast on day one, but once he gets the hang of the track, the guy hits his lines EVERY lap and his cars had so much punch and speed. If you let him get out front, you are finished.

The now infamous speeding ticket. It was funny how many guys at the race came up to Steve and asked how much the ticket was.

The Triple with Joe Pillars RB5

Some 4wd A Main action over the Ripples and Trriple. It was very hard to clear the ripples smoothly.

Well most of you have probably seen the results on LiveRC.com. We were way too beat and tired to update after the race. We actually packed up and left after my 4wd main as we had a 6 hour drive home. No tickets this time (we had some good lead cars to follow the whole way home). I can't upload some of the A Main videos yet as they are HUGE files. I'll get Steve to put them up here or on YouTube or something. So I ended up in the D Main for both 2wd and 4wd (6th postion in 2wd and 9th in 4wd). The 2wd race was pretty good I guess. Held back for the first corner and hoped for a pile up. Pretty much happened and I weaved my way through into 1st place by turn 3. Built up a 7 second lead and put it on cruise control for pretty much the whole race. 2nd place put on a good run and reeled my in to within about a second by the last corner/lap, but I upped my pace enough to keep him at bay and cruised in for the win. Salvaged a little pride there I guess! In the 4wd race, pretty much the same thing but worse. It was a gong show start and I think by the second lap I got out into first place. I couldn't get the Lazer set up perfectly though (made some last ditch set up changes for the main and told the guys it was going to be the podium or a broken car as I was going to clear the ripples and triple) and had some trouble in the ripples but being out in front, I played it safe with the double single. I bobbled a few time and actually went back to dead last...lol. I then decided to clear the ripples and the triple lap after lap and it actually worked! Got back up to 4th by the last corner. Cleared the triple (3rd place double singled) and I came out to the final straight about a car length behind. The drag race was on to the finish line and my Orion 5.5 Brushless motor/ Orion Lipo combo didn't let me down. I passed the guy right at the line to take 3rd place by 0.032 of a second (like a quarter car length!). That was a pretty exciting finish for my weekend. As for the A Mains, I'll try and get them up and let their driving do the talking. Cavaleri was on fire though and just couldn't be touched. He really was impressive to watch. We asked him what he changed on his car as he looked like ass on the first day (to be honest...haha). He just said he finally got used to the track and didn't change his set up.

Other quick shout outs:

- Big thank you to Joe Pillars for helping me out with set up and a couple of parts that I broke. I really appreciate being on the Kyosho/Orion team and only wish I had more time to socialize with the other Kyosho drivers there.

- Brent Theilke for helping out my buddy Steve. He seemed like a really cool dude and I saw him helping lots of guys out too.

- Jeremy Fellas for his marshalling prowness! He was a superman out there. Always watching his corner, anticipating crashes, volunteering for marshalling and even catching cars going off track mid air and throwing them back on the track. He set a great example for other racers and was a class act (except for some of his choices in pants perhaps).

- CRCRC. They ran a smooth race and I didn't notice any problems the whole week we were there.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Sooooooooooo tired. too tired to type. We've been up from 6:30am to 1:00am! That was a long ass day. Check the results out yourself at www.liverc.com. I think I left my camera is in my car.

TQ's are:2wd - Jesse Robbers4wd - Ryan CavaleriTruck - Chad Due

General notes:

- I think there are some locals who are just killing it today.- This "Hometown Hero" came, saw and got whipped! HAHA- The track lost traction as the day went on and the times got faster for the A Main guys...I don't get it.- We need more clay/slick tracks in Canada (I never thought I'd say it)- The announcer is a Champ....Don't know how he stays awake or has a voice left.- I like rocket round qualifying better still.- It was a good decision to make it 5 minute qualifiers..this saved us lots of time- They should have paid marshals...some were really painfully slow or didn't really care (do you really need to be told to watch your corner and not the race day after day???)- I watched 3 full length movies today on my laptop.- I will have been gone 5 days to race toy cars...I hope my wife has not changed the locks.- The CRCRC guys ran a tight ship today and I applaude the effort by all their crew. Great job!

Thanks for reading the blog...sorry there is no footage today but there was a lot going on.

P.S. - Mike went the day without a Club Soda and manned up with a roast beef sub at leats

P.S.S. - BUT...he spilled the tire bucket water TWICE under MY pit table AND spilled his tin on Paragon traction compound there as well just to complete the hat trick and get us high for the day.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Well last day of practice. They kept it as open practice as long as the marshals were out. Worked out better than controlled practice I think. Still tough as there were always 20 to 25 cars out there. Lots of hacking going on! LOL. Didn't break too much. Took a pic (at top) of the total practice breakage....Can't complain as there were people with much worse luck. I think I finally have the RB5 dialed in pretty good. The Lazer...well, I think it is o.k. Too affraid to run it as I don't have anymore spares and nobody had SP parts here so I am saving her for tomorrow. I ran 2wd most of the day. Lap times seem to be in the 28-29 second range for 2wd and 27-28 seconds for 4wd from what I saw so far (I managed some 29 second 2wd laps). I am sure it will drop with less cars on the track in qualifying and with people stepping up their game (someone told me 25 seconds would be the times). Big names look pretty good out there, but there are a couple of Losi guys who I don't know (I don't know too many guys outside who you see in the mags) who were DIALED and ripping out there. I thought they looked faster than Tebo, Cavaleri and Robbers (Robbers was pretty quick out there though). The 4wd cars will jump the ripple section and I guess you have to do the triple to be fast. I think it is a 1/2 second faster per lap to triple versus double single. I didn't have time to video some laps of the fast guys but I took a quick clip of the triple again just because the cars look funny flying like that. As for who is gonna win....hmmmm....not sure, but I could see an upset of some sorts brewing. Hopefully I can get some fast laps in as I have never raced at a big US race before (well not since I was a kid at the '89 Nationals in Detroit..haha), so I really don't know what to expect (hometown hero baby!). I guess that is about it. Nothing too exciting, but it will be a long day tomorrow. Drivers meeting at 7:30am...probably won't get out till late either. I probably forgot something, but I am tired. I will bring the lap top to the track tomorrow for sure. See you on Live RC :P

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Well, day two was a little better. Got the set up a bit closer. Thanks to Joe Pillars for the tips. I have seen Joe helping out so many people I wonder if he has gotten any laps in! Good to see these guys supporting the others in the hobby! Still broke a hub or two and had a Stadium Truck rip my front shock off my Lazer, but both cars seem to be in the ball park now. Mike is depleting my spare parts box fairly rapidly and has broken quite a bit. Steve's cars look good out there and Fred and Chet are changing set up's every time out! The surface is REALLY different to anything we run up in Canada. We were watching Tebo and Cavaleri and they look like they were having their share of issues with some spots on the track though as well. We bought some step stools this morning at Walmart to get us a better view of the track. Best $8.97 (roll back priced) I have spent so far! Other than that, lots of carnage off the triple and the traction is still crazy. The hot set up is stiffer springs than usual and slicked taper pins (or slicked ribs in 2wd). I am actually running a half slicked taper pin up front of my 4wd as the full slick has crazy steering. If I never have to dremel another tire I will die a happy man. I think I have done half a dozen sets today and the smell of burning rubber is ingrained in my head. Oh, yeah, the Glenwood guys have like a 26" Plasma with and Xbox and I saw Jeremy Fellas playing Guitar Hero earlier on in the day. I think the Hot Bodies guys also have a table belt sander (for tires) and a drill press (for ??) set up in their pit. The A/E pit is huge and looks impressive. Us Kyosho guys are scattered a bit more and the Losi guys are scattered even more. There are a fair amount of X Factory cars and "The Dirt" is looking pretty good out there. The 8th scale cars are pretty crazy. One guy jumped the triple and landed in the staight (a good 15 feet past the landing). The internet is sketchy on site so most of the updates will have to be done from the hotel (I hear some RC cars ripping down the hallway). So here are a few more pics and vids for now...gotta go wrench.

Johnny

P.S. - Was making fun of Mike for ordering fish, salad and a club soda at the steakhouse where us actual men ate red meat and drank beer.....haha

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Day 1 - CRCRC Midwest Championships

Well, quick update on CRCRC's Mid West Championships.

Me Mike and Steve left my house around 5:30am or so. Took us 7 hours to get here. It would have been at least an hour quicker, but we stopped at the good 'ol Waffle House for some breakfast (and some fabulous people watching). Back on the road, we were on a TQ run to get to Columbus when Steve managed to attract the attention of Ohio's finest to the tune of 86mph in a 65mph zone. Finally at CRCRC around 2pm we walked into the place and saw the HUGE track with a HUGE triple. You had to look up to see the cars in the air clearing it! Check out the video, especially the first car going over....makes Sid's big jump look like a pimple. Setting up is harder than expected and we have all broken parts already. The track is really too big for 1 1/0th scale and you actually loose sight of your car in a couple of sections. We are going to hit up Walmart for a few step stools to stand on the get a couple feet higher. Most of the A/E, Hot bodies and KyoshoFactory guys are here already. Tebo looking pretty comfortable out there. Seems to be a slick tire track and there is gobs of traction. I am running an Orion Vortex 6.5 in my 2WD and a 5.5 in the 4wd geared pretty solid. Well, that's going to be it for now as we have been up for 15 hours now. I'll take more videos and pics tomorrow when everyone is settled in.